Azura was once again in the school's library. He along with 2 of his copies were looking for every piece of information they could find on World’s end. It was important to know what kind of monsters he’d be fighting, and what terrain he’d be fighting them on. He still hadn’t told his friends of his upcoming ‘adventure’, but it had only been a couple of days so he figured it wasn’t an unusual amount of time to find the best way to break the news for something this big.
He sighed. Even he knew he was just making excuses. He had tried to tell them a few times, but had ended up changing the subject each time. He wondered if leaving a copy or 2 at the school would make them more or less willing to stay here. Not for the first time he wished his life was simpler. He would trade this life for the life of a commoner any day. Not that he’d do so with his sister’s future on the line though. Maybe he should just accept the contract being broken, and make a contract with a dragon spirit like his father wanted. It wasn’t like contracting with a dragon would instantly turn him into his father.
He shook his head. He had made his decision long ago, and he wasn’t going to back out of it now just because things were getting a little rough. He looked at the book resting open on the table he sat on. The picture of a beautiful spring surrounded by desolate wasteland. Spires of sharp rock and constant storms. The spring looked as if it was a completely separate reality from everything around it, and for all intents and purposes it was. It was a door to the spirit world, a place where the 2 worlds met. That was why bathing in the pool would tether him to both.
If he survived his contract would become unbreakable, and the enhanced connection would no doubt allow him to grow even stronger. Despite all the danger involved, a part of him couldn’t help but be excited. Maybe once he made it back he’d spar with one of the copies he left behind and see which gained more power real world experience and a dip in the pool, or the lessons of this school and training with friends.
He’d have to set his enchantments to absorb any mana he recovered naturally during the spar though, to make things even. Best not to get ahead of himself though, he had more pressing concerns. He went back to reading through the book in front of him. At least since the springs were so well known he wasn’t lacking in information about them. Even if the one at World’s end was rarely used anymore due to its risk.
He honestly wasn’t confident in his ability to make it there on his own, but there were various reasons he couldn’t have his friends come along, perhaps he could hire a guide. He didn’t need the directions, but someone who was confident enough to lead him there would also be strong enough to back him up during the inevitable monster attacks, plus they would probably know the best ways to avoid the monsters that are too dangerous to deal with.
A skilled guide wouldn’t be cheap, but he had made a decent sum selling some of the enchanted gear he had been making. He could probably afford the guide or the airship, but probably not both. Taking a land vehicle to the halfway point was doable, but it would add a couple of weeks to the journey. Although he did have a powerful familiar that could fly pretty fast. Getting Reign to help him with this would probably be a rather simple affair as well. Few things motivated the dragon, but an appeal to his pride ought to do it.
He wasn’t going to find anything about a guide in the library though, which meant it was time to go into the city and ask around. He wondered how his 2 copies going to classes were doing. With only 2 of them going to classes they would actually take almost the entire day to go to all of the available classes, and they would have to miss the beginning and/or end of a few classes. No point worrying about it, he’d find out later. He ordered the 2 copies that were with him to put all the books away and then dispel, and left the library heading towards the academy gates so he could go into town.
Luckily Luna had just about mastered the anti-magic spell, otherwise he’d have felt pretty guilty leaving. They had agreed to their spell trade after all, and it would be a pretty major thing to not finish teaching her properly. On the other hand, fighting her under the anti-magic field was practically a lost cause. Her physical combat skills were well above his own, his only advantage was that his sword had greater range. He didn’t regret the trade though, clairvoyance was serving him quite well.
The guards didn’t even bother checking him when he passed the gate anymore. He came and went all the time, and the guards were well used to seeing him leave two or more times without coming back due to his copies. Making sure more than 1 of him was never in the same place at the same time except for private areas only worked for keeping the secret from random people walking around. The guards and teachers of course knew, plus all the first years had seen it in his fight with Gareth.
It probably wasn’t a good thing how lax the guards had become about him though. Impersonating him would be a real easy way to get into the school. He mused at the thought of a bunch of people that looked like him sneaking into the school with nefarious purposes. He laughed it off. Anyone who knew it would work would have to already be inside the school, so there shouldn’t be a reason to worry. On the other hand, stopping to show his id wasn’t very inconvenient, and it would make sure there wasn’t an unnecessary hole in security.
He vowed to do so from then on. He realized he had been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t even realized he had made it to his destination. He would have rather gone to a mages guild hall, but there wasn’t one in this town for obvious reasons. The last thing they needed was for rowdy students to have access to a quest board at any time. So he went to the next best place for information. Or at least information that you wouldn’t find in a library. Azura sighed as he faced one of his least favorite kinds of places. Sadly the bar was just about the only place he could go to find what he was looking for at the moment.
He stepped in, and was quickly overwhelmed by the scent of alcohol. He cringed but continued on toward the counter. “I know you students think this town is just for you, but didn’t you read the sign? We don’t allow students under the age of 18 to drink.” He raised an eyebrow; the barkeep's tone and appearance couldn’t be more at odds. The barkeep was a polite looking man, wearing a white long sleeve undershirt with a sleeveless black button up vest over it. His nice black trousers, and red tie completed the gentleman image. The slick black hair, and green piercing green eyes only sold the image more. Yet his tone sounded more mocking and condescending than even his father typically managed.
“Well it’s a good thing I’m not here for a drink then. I’m looking to head towards World’s end pretty soon, and was wondering where one might go to secure a guide?” He wasn’t normally a fan of the direct approach, but there wasn’t really much value in beating around the bush here. Still he wasn’t being completely reckless, he’d used a spell to make sure no one but the bartender had heard him. He doubted anyone hanging out this close to a school for mages was too shady, but better safe than sorry.
The bartender’s eyes widened. Probably just as much at the question as at the privacy spell currently in place. “Why the hell would you want to go there?! You beat out thousands of applicants for a chance to go to the academy, and now you want to leave it for months? To go to one of the most dangerous places in existance no less. Why would you waste a golden opportunity like that?!” Well on the bright side he was pretty sure he knew why the bartender was being so hostile to him now.
“I’m not wasting it, I don’t want to go into specifics, but I won’t be missing any classes to make this journey, but it’s very important for me personally to get to World’s end. Relatively soon if possible.” The man’s eyes narrowed. He was sure the barkeep was trying to figure out what spell he had that made him so confident. After all, the barkeep had probably tried to get into the academy several times. It was only natural for him to try and judge the skills of someone that made it in. Or at least he was pretty sure that was the man’s issue with him.
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“Some super convenient unique magic then? Lucky you.” He sighed. He had hoped assuring the man he wouldn’t be wasting his opportunity would help, but it seemed to have backfired. No one would miss the obvious spite in the bartender's voice. “If you want to get yourself killed going to World’s end knock yourself out, but the only place you’ll find someone dumb enough to play guide to a place like that is in Lake Spire. It's a border town, well known for the people that live there.” He winced Lake Spire certainly did have a… reputation, but he supposed it made sense that it would be the best place to look for a guide.
“Thanks for the info, in exchange I’ll give you a piece of advice that might help. Alienating students you might be able to get advice from probably isn’t in your best interests.” The barkeep's eyes widened in surprise, but he paid the man no mind as he turned and walked out of the bar. He got what he came for.
***
Azura was on his way back to the school after he had spent some time walking around the town. He decided to head back once it had started to get pretty dark, so he was expecting the memories from the 2 copies he had asked to go to classes pretty soon. Sure enough not even 5 minutes later the memories washed into him. He raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought to meditate like that, that would work wonders for his mana recovery efficiency, and that in term would increase the viability of his copies, and what tasks they could complete.
As was usually accompanied by a day's worth of new memories entering his head all at once. He felt exhaustion overcome him. His body felt fine, but while it wasn’t so bad he had a headache. He still felt like he had done far too much today, and that he would welcome the chance for his brain to shut off for a while. He wouldn’t get to sleep right away, but he could probably get away with not being a very active participant in the teams daily after school chat. He was glad his team had pretty much all stuck together.
They weren’t really required to, and most of the teams formed in the trials didn’t, but surprisingly he had actually gotten pretty lucky as far as his team went. Some of them he had recruited outright no luck involved, but Roran and Luna had just conveniently been on his team for the first trial, and Roran came with Cynthia, so arguably she was also sheer luck. Still, it was probably best not to get too reliant on the surprising amount of luck he’d had since coming to this school. Even if his bad luck still reared its head for the small things.
Mostly he was glad that Katy would have friends to support her while he was away. At least 1 of his copies would still be there, but it was good to know that if something happened and his copies dispelled she’d still have people around to watch her back. He barely remembered to stop and show his id on the way back in. They shot him a confused look and ushered him in. He told them he’d be showing his id from then on and then proceeded towards his dorm room.
“There you are, it’s pretty unlike you to stay out this late. Especially given you actually had your copies scrambling to classes like we do. Is everything alright?” Well, that was unfortunate. He had hoped to be able to explain himself on his own terms, and preferably not while he was mentally exhausted, but while not the strongest combatant in the group Cynthia ave him a run for his money in the most observant department.
“Yeah, everything is fine. I just have something I need to prep for. It’s easier if I tell all of you together… I don’t have the energy to tell the story twice.” If he was being honest he barely had the energy to tell it once. Absorbing the memories of the copy/copies he left here was going to be awful. A month of memories minimum, that was not going to be absorbed painlessly. Even if he was prepared for them, and meditating to ease the transfer. He winced just at the thought of it. The undoubtedly extreme migraine he was going to get would probably be worth it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to incapacitate him for a good chunk of time. He’d have to cross that bridge when he got to it.
Ok I’ll let everyone know to meet you in your room, it sounds like the kind of thing we are going to want to hear in person.” He sighed in relief. He didn’t think he could handle the inevitable stream of questions being dumped straight into his head. Face to face was definitely better. Especially given that with the telepathy sometimes particularly strong emotions slip through with their words, and he really didn’t want them to worry. He sent a mental confirmation, and continued on his way.
Unsurprisingly everyone else had beat him to his dorm. He was greeted with 5 curious gazes, and one set of narrowed eyes. Katy was apparently extra suspicious of his behavior. Even the familiars seemed to feel the tension she was emitting, most staying away except for her own which was curled up in her lap, seemingly unaware of the pressure she was emitting. “So what’s going on, oh leader of ours?” Lily’s attempt to lighten the mood helped him release a little of his own tension. Katy’s gaze didn’t falter for a second.
He sighed. Best to just rip off the band-aid. “I have a journey I have to make pretty soon. I’ll be leaving in the next month or so, and the journey itself will probably take over a month.” Unless Reign would help out. That would shorten both the trip there and the trip back, though it would be too dangerous to have Reign flying that deep in the wild lands, the dragon should be able to get them a good chunk of the way there.
“You're leaving the academy?! After all the work we put in to get here?” Katy’s question was one he had expected, and thus he already had his answer prepared.
“Yes, I’ll be leaving a copy or 2 so I can maintain my studies, but unfortunately this journey is too important to delay, and even if it wasn’t I’m on a time limit for it to have the effect I need it to.” There was no point in risking his life if it wouldn’t even help him escape his father’s machinations.
“Oh so that’s why you only had 2 copies going to classes today, you’re getting used to that schedule so that the copies you leave will be prepared.” He nodded. So far none of them had asked the question he dreaded, but he knew it was coming. It wasn’t like it was a question that had a chance of not coming up in this discussion.
“Where are you going?” There it is. Not too surprising Luna would be the one to ask the most obvious question. Her and Siara were the most down to earth members of their team. He pondered briefly on how to break the news gently, before deciding no amount of flowery language would distract them from the end answer. They weren’t nobles, and they knew how he operated by now.
He sighed again. “I’ll be going to the spring at World’s end, in order to bathe in the pool of rebirth.” It was rather funny that in his dread of being asked that question he had forgotten the kind of people his audience was. Cynthia made a silent gasp, but everyone else just looked at him in confusion. Really in hindsight he should have seen it coming, but the sheer difference from the reaction he was expecting caused him to laugh, easing most of the tension from his shoulders.
“Why would you ever want to go to a place like World’s end? You of all people must know how dangerous it is to try and get there!” Surprisingly he could tell she hadn’t sent that message to everyone. He was grateful for her discretion. She was giving him a chance to explain himself before she ratted him out to the others, by telling them just what World’s end was.
“It’s not a matter of want. It’s something I have to do. In order to maintain the contract I took in defiance of my father I have to do this.” He tried to put as much of his determination as possible into his response. He needed her to understand how important this was to him.
“You know they are going to find out what kind of place that is eventually right? Even if I don’t tell them.” He knew she was right, but even so. He just needed some time. Just enough to finish all his preparations. Then he’d tell them the full story, but for now it was best for them not to worry without reason.
“I know, I’ll tell them everything. As soon as my preparations are done. Once it’s too late for them to try and stop me then I’ll tell them I promise.” He didn’t want things to be this way. He knew he was putting an unfair amount of pressure on Cynthia, but they’d understand why he had to do it this way. When he came back stronger than ever, and with a way to escape some of his father’s influence. It’s not like he had any other options right?